The crucible

The Crucible
By: Arthur Miller
Submitted By : Iqra Aqeel
2015

IQRA AQEEL-007
Symbols
The Title Itself (The Crucible): A crucible- A vessel made of a refractory substance
such as graphite or porcelain, used for melting materials at high temperatures. In other
words a crucible is a container that is made to melt down metals and it withstands
extremely high temperatures. In most science classes a crucible would be used to test
how pure or good a certain substance is for an experiment, etc. The plays title alone
symbolizes the entire plot of the play, considering how the story takes place during a time
of great chaos and hysteria in the community. The crucible represents the church and how
they pulled the traitors in and tried to melt down all their integrity by tearing them down.
The church is basically testing the purity or goodness of each person and although they
may be taking the liars it's what they see as pure. "I'll not hang with you! I love God, I
love God." ( Mary Warren, Act 3) By Mary shouting this in front of the judges it makes
Proctor look like the bad guy in this situation and it also makes it look like he's the one
that was lying. Mary thought that was what they all wanted to hear so she lied in order to
make her pureness seem real. The entire play most of the men and women that confess to
the crime of witchcraft had been denying it the entire time, however, they felt that the
church wanted to test they're pureness so they would lie about being with the Devil in
order to save their own skin.
Witch Trials: The Witch Trials represent the terror and hysteria in the community. The
witch trials were just a way to keep their religion traditional and keeping other religions
out. Many a time in The Crucible the people accused of not going to church every
Sunday or working on the Sabbath are accused of being the Devil's advocates. "Mr.
Proctor, your house is not a church; your theology must tell you that." ( Hale, Act 2) At
this point in the play Mr. Proctor has been accused of working for the Devil. Because his
wife was sick Proctor missed exactly twenty six times in seventeen months, however, this
is still seen as wrong because if his wife was sick then he still should've attended church
according to the church. Many a time the people that were accusing others were never
questioned themselves. "Why do you never wonder if Parris be innocent, or Abigail? Is
the accuser holy now? Were they born this morning as clean as God's fingers?" ( Proctor,
Act 2) It never occurred to the church that the whole thing could be a lie or some sort of
story meant to gain attention. Because religion was so delicate and not always easy to
believe the church would do anything to make the outside world without God seem
scarier.
The Poppet: Mary Warren's poppet would symbolize the uneasiness of the community.
A poppet was something that symbolized innocence and youth, however, because of one
person's words the poppet becomes this evil thing that people begin to fear. Along with
witchcraft was voodoo and these dolls were believed to be used to hurt and curse the
people these dolls were made after. For example, "I find here a poppet Goody Proctor
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keeps. I have found it, sir. And in the belly of the poppet a needle's stuck." ( Cheever, Act
2) The poppet was a gift from Mary Warren and it got turned into a demonic and evil
doll. Simply because Abigail Williams stuck herself in the stomach with a needle and
blamed the voodoo doll that Goody Proctor kept.
The Noose (Hangings): The strongest of all symbols would probably be the noose. The
gallows throughout this whole play are basically this horrific impending doom that
everyone is going to have to face eventually. Every time someone went to jail they were
basically going to go to the gallows whether they wanted to or not. In order to avoid this
awful death then you could lie and confess that you were working for the Devil and many
times the women did exactly that. "No, I love God; I go your way no more. I love God, I
bless God. Abby, Abby, I'll never hurt you no more!" ( Mary Warren, Act 3) By Mary
yelling such things and confessing to changing form and trying to hurt Abby it looks like
Proctor's been the one lying the entire time. Mary knew she would get out of the hanging
if she confessed to conspiring with the Devil. Every person that confessed knew it was
the only way out because even if you told the truth then you weren't believed, especially
because the more respected people in the town confessed to seeing people with the Devil.
"I saw Sarah Good with the Devil! I saw Goody Osburn with the Devil! I saw Bridget
Bishop with the Devil!" ( Abigail,Act 1) Because Abigail was the niece of Parris, a
highly respected man in the town, her word as well as Betty's were taken without
questions.
Themes in Crucible
The Crucible Theme of Lies and Deceit
Most of the characters in The Crucible are lying – if not to other people, then to
themselves. Abigail lies about her ability to see spirits, as do the other girls; Proctor is
deceitful first for cheating on his wife and then for hiding it; and the judge
and lieutenant governor and ministers lie to themselves and everybody else in saying that
they serve the cause of God’s justice. The twist in the story is that by telling the truth (“I
am not a witch”), you die, but you also gain your freedom – that is, you retain your
standing with God, and you become a martyr.
The Crucible Theme of Respect and Reputation
Reputation is extremely important in a town where social standing is tied to one’s ability
to follow religious rules. Your good name is the only way you can get other people to do
business with you or even get a fair hearing. Of course, reputation meant nothing when a
witchcraft accusation was staring you in the face. But it is what made the Reverend Hale
begin to doubt whether the accused individuals were actually guilty. Reputation had to do
with religion: if you were a good and trustworthy person, you were also a good member
of the church. Last but not least, it is for the sake of his reputation and his friends’
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reputations that John Proctor refuses to sign a false confession. He would, quite literally,
rather die.
The Crucible Theme of Compassion and Forgiveness
John Proctor, our main character, is in desperate need of forgiveness at the start of the
play, but his wife seems torn about whether to grant it. He had committed adultery earlier
that year while she was sick, and though his lover Abigail Williams is now out of his life,
she still judges him for it. More importantly, he still judges himself. It isn’t until
Elizabeth forgives him, and admits her own fault in the matter, that John Proctor is able
to forgive himself and recognize some goodness left in him. It is also what gives him
courage to go to his death.
The Crucible Theme of Good vs. Evil
The entire village bases its belief system on the conflict between good vs. evil, or Satan
vs. God. Over and over, as people are accused of witchcraft, this paradigm gets dragged
out. When Tituba confesses, she claims she wants to be a good Christian now and stop
hurting people. She must renounce the Devil. When Mary Warren can’t handle the girls’
accusations, she accuses Proctor of making her sign the Devil’s book and claims she is
now with God. The world in The Crucible is clearly divided into these two camps.
Unfortunately, everybody’s confused about which side is actually good, and which side is
actually evil, though it’s abundantly clear to the reader. It may seem like evil is winning,
as one innocent person after another is put to death, but we also see that there is power in
martyrdom. The innocent people who confessed are beginning to rebel, and both
ministers have recognized their mistakes by the end of the play. Above all, the religion of
Salem is incredibly bleak and tends to focus on human frailty and sin to the exclusion of
the good things in the world.
The Crucible Theme of The Supernatural
The supernatural is real to the Salem townsfolk. They see evidence of God and evidence
of the Devil everywhere. Yet nobody actually sees spirits -- though the girls claim they
do. The play makes it clear that they are pretending. Their pretense may be a group
psychological phenomenon, but in the world as the reader understands it, if there is a
Devil, he’s not in Salem: there are only people – some good, some misled, some greedy,
some jealous, some vengeful, some evil.
The Crucible Theme of Justice
The Salem of the play is a theocracy, which means that God is supposed to be the
ultimate leader, arbiter, and judge. In practice, however, the town’s
religious authorities do the governing. God needs men on earth to do his work of justice,
and Hathorne, Danforth, Hale, and Parris are all part of that system. They believed that
God was speaking through the children to help them prosecute invisible, hidden crimes.
The whole system gets turned upside down, and these men of experience and education
are completely dependent on the assumption that the children were telling the truth
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and really did see what they claim to. In Salem during the witch trials, to be accused was
to be guilty. To be guilty meant death. And the only way to avoid death was to confess.
Though confessing was a way to bring those who strayed back into the fold, in this case it
meant a lot of innocent people had to lie in order to keep their lives. Strange sort of
justice.
The Crucible Theme of Religion
Religion is woven into the everyday life of the Salem of the play. Its exclusive form of
Christianity centered on a set of clearly defined rules: you went to church every Sunday,
you didn’t work on the Sabbath, you believed the Gospel, you respected the minister’s
word like it was God’s, and so on. For people accused of witchcraft, any deviation from
these rules in the past can be used as evidence for much greater sins in the present. But
ultimately, even good and respected and highly religious women like Rebecca Nurse are
accused and put to death, so past respectability and religiosity doesn’t necessarily protect
one.
The Crucible Theme of Jealousy
Many of the characters are motivated by jealousy and greed in The Crucible. Abigail is
motivated by jealousy of Elizabeth Proctor; she wants Elizabeth to die so that she can
marry John, Elizabeth’s husband. Thomas Putnam is motivated by jealousy of other
people’s property; he wants George Jacobs to die so that he could get his hands on a great
piece of land. Little attention is devoted to the subject of envy by any of the characters,
even though it is the hidden force driving most of the drama in town.
The Crucible - Witch Trials
In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the madness of the Salem witch trials is explored in
great detail. There are many theories as to why the witch trials came about, the most
popular of which is the girls' suppressed childhoods. However, there were other factors as
well, such as Abigail Williams' affair with John Proctor, the secret grudges that neighbors
held against each other, and the physical and economic differences between the citizens
of Salem Village. From a historical viewpoint, it is known that young girls in colonial
Massachusetts were given little or no freedom to act like children. They were expected to
walk straight, arms by their sides, eyes slightly downcast, and their mouths were to be
shut unless otherwise asked to speak. It is not surprising that the girls would find this type
of lifestyle very constricting. To rebel against it, they played pranks, such as dancing in
the woods, listening to slaves' magic stories and pretending that other villagers were
bewitching them. The Crucible starts after the girls in the village have been caught
dancing in the woods. As one of them falls sick, rumors start to fly that there is witchcraft
going on in the woods, and that the sick girl is bewitched. Once the girls talk to each
other, they become more and more frightened of being accused as witches, so Abigail
starts accusing others of practicing witchcraft. The other girls all join in so that the blame
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will not be placed on them. In The Crucible, Abigail starts the accusations by saying, "I
go back to Jesus; I kiss his hand. I saw Sarah Good with the Devil! I saw Goody Osburn
with the Devil! I saw Bridget Bishop with the Devil!" Another girl, Betty, continues the
cry with, "I saw George Jacobs with the Devil! I saw Goody Howe with the Devil!"
>From here on, the accusations grow and grow until the jails overflow with accused
witches. It must have given them an incredible sense of power when the whole town of
Salem listened to their words and believed each and every accusation. After all, children
were to be seen and not heard in Puritan society, and the newfound attention was
probably overwhelming. In Act Three of The Crucible, the girls were called before the
judges to defend themselves against the claims that they were only acting. To prove their
innocence, Abigail led the other girls in a chilling scene. Abby acted as if Mary Warren
sent her spirit up to the rafters and began to talk to the spirit. "Oh Mary, this is a black art
to change your shape. No, I cannot, I cannot stop my mouth; it's God's work I do." The
other girls all stared at the rafters in horror and began to repeat everything they heard.
Finally, the girls' hysterics caused Mary Warren to accuse John Proctor of witchcraft.
Once the scam started, it was too late to stop, and the snowballing effect of wild
accusations soon resulted in the hanging of many innocents. After the wave of
accusations began, grudges began to surface in the community. Small slights were made
out to be witchcraft, and bad business deals were blamed on witchery. Two characters in
The Crucible, Giles Corey and Thomas Putnam, argue early on about a plot of land.
Corey claims that he bought it from Goody Nurse but Putnam says he owns it, and Goody
Nurse had no right to sell it. Later, when Putnam's daughter accuses George Jacobs of
witchery, Corey claims that Putnam only wants Jacobs' land. Giles says, "If Jacobs hangs
for a witch he forfeit up his property - that's law! And there is none but Putnam with the
coin to buy so great a piece. This man is killing his neighbors for their land!" Others also
had hidden motives for accusing their neighbors. Once the accusations began, everyone
had a reason to accuse someone else which is why the hangings got so out of hand. The
wave of accusations can be likened to mass hysteria, in which the people involved are so
caught up that they start having delusions of neighbors out to do them harm. One of the
main accusers, Abigail Williams, had an ulterior motive for accusing Elizabeth Proctor.
In The Crucible, Abigail believed that if she got rid of Goody Proctor, then John Proctor,
her husband, would turn to Abby. John Proctor had an affair with Abigail, but for him it
was just lust, while Abigail believed it to be true love. She told John that he loves her,
and once she destroys Elizabeth, they will be free to love one another. John is horrified at
this, but can do nothing to convince Abigail that he is not in love with her. Because of
Abigail's twisted plot to secure John for herself, Elizabeth is arrested. It is the hidden
motives behind the accusations that fan the flames of the Salem witch trials. To get the
complete picture of the causes behind the witch trials, you must look at the physical
reasons as well. Two historians, Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum, drew a map of
Salem Village and plotted the accusers, the defendants, and the accused witches. An
interesting picture arose when a line was drawn dividing the town into east and west. It
became clear that nearly all the accusers lived on the west side, and almost all the
defenders and accused witches lived on the east side. To determine the cause of the east-
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west split, the historians examined many disputes, chief among them being the choice of
ministers. Once Salem Village was granted the right to have its own meeting house,
quarrels arose over who would preach in the pulpit. There were four ministers between
the time period of when the meeting house was built and the end of the witch trials. The
arguments over ministers soon became a power struggle. There were two factions that
arose during this dispute, and it was noted that one group supported two ministers while
the other group supported the other two ministers. Each group wanted to prove its
influence by choosing a minister and making him the spiritual guide to Salem Village.
The two groups were found to coincide closely with the east-west division. When the
economical divisions of the village were examined, it was found that in general the
western citizens of Salem Village lived an agrarian lifestyle and were hard-pressed
economically. The land on the western side was well-suited to farming and grazing. By
contrast, the villagers on the east side were mainly merchants and lived fairly opulently.
The road to Salem Town traveled through the east side of Salem Village. Many
innkeepers and tavern owners lived on this road and made a good profit off all the
travelers. Tension often arose between the two groups because of their vastly different
lifestyles. It is not difficult to see why a catastrophe such as the Salem witch trials
occurred. Once one accusation was made, it was easy to release all the buried suspicions
and hatred into a wave of madness. The Crucible simplifies the cause to make for a better
story, but in reality the reasons for the witch craft accusations were much more complex.
The reasons behind the accusations would result in many more quarrels over the years,
but none as interesting or as horrifying as the Salem witch trials. In such a straight-laced
Puritan society, there lived many people with hidden darkness in their hearts, and the
Salem witch trials exposed and magnified the consequences of those black desires.
The Crucible - Form and Structure
Arthur Miller uses various different techniques in the form and structure of 'The Crucible'
to create suspense and maintain the audience's interest. Of course, one of the main factors
of the form and structure of the play is its genre. 'The Crucible' can be described as being
a symbolic play, a tragedy, a political play, an historical play and a narrative play in
naturalistic form. It is symbolic, political and historic as although the story revolves
around the Salem witch trials, the ideas and morals behind the plot can be viewed as
Miller's criticism of McCarthyism. The play can also be seen as being narrative in a
naturalistic form due to the lengthy set descriptions and stage directions followed by
regular, natural yet stylised conversational prose. Obviously, the plot of 'The Crucible' is
tragic as it ends with Miller killing off the main characters.
One method Miller uses to keep the audience excited and interested is his use of high
tension and climaxes. He ends each of the four acts with a climax, for example, Act
Three finishes with Hale exclaiming, 'I denounce these proceedings, I quit this court!' as
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'he slams the door' behind him. Climaxes such as this will always keep an audience alert
and wanting to know more. Scenes like this particular one also create an engaging
atmosphere and help the audience to understand extreme Puritanism more clearly. The
theme of witch hunting in 'The Crucible' is an exciting factor which will also maintain
audience interest. Miller also changes the focus of the play in each act. For instance,
Miller's main idea in Act One is 'fear of the unknown' which he shows through Parris'
insistence on there being 'no unnatural cause here', whereas the focus changes swiftly to
adultery in Act Two, and this is highlighted particularly well when Proctor fails to
remember the commandment 'adultery'.
Miller wrote 'The Crucible' in a chronological order. Time changing is shown not only
through the number of hangings and confessions that have occurred but also through
Elizabeth's pregnancy. Miller uses exposition to make past events seem clearer such as
the girls dancing in the forest at the beginning. By reference to past events by the play's
characters, the audience can create an image in their mind's eye of what has happened
Setting
The Crucible is set in Puritan New England in 1692. As we have already seen, Miller
researched this period in great depth in an attempt to make his portrait of Salem life as
authentic as possible. Not only are the characters closely based on real people, but their
conversations often echo statements found in historical records and court transcripts.
As early settlers in New England, the Puritans lived the frugal lives of pioneers.
Houses were built of logs, wood fires provided the only heat for cooking or warmth, and
kerosene lamps or candles offered the only light after dark. When John Proctor enters his
home with a rifle in Act II, it is a reminder that the dangerous wilderness begins just
beyond the boundaries of the Proctor farm.
The settings in The Crucible reflects the spartan quality of Salem life. Furnishings of any
kind are kept to a minimum and always serve a definite purpose. Decoration for its own
sake simply does not exist. In general, the rooms are described as spare, tidy and plain.
The descriptions give the sense of hard beds and stiff, uncomfortable benches and chairs.
Act I takes place in the bedroom of Betty Parris. The room is small, as is the window,
which lets in only a little of the morning sun. The room is sparsely furnished: a bed, a
chair, a chest, a small table and a candle. Because the house is not very old, the “wood
colors are raw and unmellowed.”
Act II is set in the “common room” of the Proctors’ house. The common room is a
combination kitchen, living room and dining room. Here almost all household activities
except sleeping take place. The room is clean and tidy, though rather dark and somber.
When we first see it, Elizabeth is upstairs singing gently to her children. Dinner is
cooking over an open fire.
Act III takes place in the vestry of the Salem meetinghouse, which is now the anteroom
of the Salem General Court. The room is described as “solemn, even forbidding” with
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heavy exposed roofbeams. There are two plain benches, a long meeting table with stools
and one armchair. Sunlight pours through two high windows. Offstage in the courtroom,
a trial is taking place.
The setting for Act IV, then, is one of total squalor and desolation. In vile cells like this
one, many of the finest people in Salem wait to be executed. Yet, in this foul setting, John
Proctor finds the honor and integrity to choose death over a false confession. In Act III, a
dignified setting was made lowly and absurd by the evil accusations of the court; in Act
IV, a sordid setting is ennobled by the courage and honesty of the prisoners.
Character List
→
John Proctor - A local farmer who lives just outside town; Elizabeth Proctor’s husband. A
stern, harsh-tongued man, John hates hypocrisy. Nevertheless, he has a hidden sin—his
affair with Abigail Williams—that proves his downfall. When the hysteria begins, he hesitates
to expose Abigail as a fraud because he worries that his secret will be revealed and his good
name ruined.
Abigail Williams - Reverend Parris’s niece. Abigail was once the servant for the Proctor
household, but Elizabeth Proctor fired her after she discovered that Abigail was having an
affair with her husband, John Proctor. Abigail is smart, wily, a good liar, and vindictive when
crossed.
Reverend John Hale - A young minister reputed to be an expert on witchcraft. Reverend
Hale is called in to Salem to examine Parris’s daughter Betty. Hale is a committed Christian
and hater of witchcraft. His critical mind and intelligence save him from falling into blind
fervor. His arrival sets the hysteria in motion, although he later regrets his actions and
attempts to save the lives of those accused.
Elizabeth Proctor - John Proctor’s wife. Elizabeth fired Abigail when she discovered that
her husband was having an affair with Abigail. Elizabeth is supremely virtuous, but often
cold.
Reverend Parris - The minister of Salem’s church. Reverend Parris is a paranoid, power-
hungry, yet oddly self-pitying figure. Many of the townsfolk, especially John Proctor, dislike
him, and Parris is very concerned with building his position in the community.
Rebecca Nurse - Francis Nurse’s wife. Rebecca is a wise, sensible, and upright woman,
held in tremendous regard by most of the Salem community. However, she falls victim to the
hysteria when the Putnams accuse her of witchcraft and she refuses to confess.
Francis Nurse - A wealthy, influential man in Salem. Nurse is well respected by most
people in Salem, but is an enemy of Thomas Putnam and his wife.
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Judge Danforth - The deputy governor of Massachusetts and the presiding judge at the
witch trials. Honest and scrupu-lous, at least in his own mind, Danforth is convinced that he
is doing right in rooting out witchcraft.
Giles Corey - An elderly but feisty farmer in Salem, famous for his tendency to file lawsuits.
Giles’s wife, Martha, is accused of witchcraft, and he himself is eventually held in contempt
of court and pressed to death with large stones.
Thomas Putnam - A wealthy, influential citizen of Salem, Putnam holds a grudge against
Francis Nurse for preventing Putnam’s brother-in-law from being elected to the office of
minister. He uses the witch trials to increase his own wealth by accusing people of witchcraft
and then buying up their land.
Ann Putnam - Thomas Putnam’s wife. Ann Putnam has given birth to eight children, but
only Ruth Putnam survived. The other seven died before they were a day old, and Ann is
convinced that they were murdered by supernatural means.
Ruth Putnam - The Putnams’ lone surviving child out of eight. Like Betty Parris, Ruth falls
into a strange stupor after Reverend Parris catches her and the other girls dancing in the
woods at night.
Tituba - Reverend Parris’s black slave from Barbados. Tituba agrees to perform voodoo at
Abigail’s request.
Mary Warren - The servant in the Proctor household and a member of Abigail’s group of
girls. She is a timid girl, easily influenced by those around her, who tried unsuccessfully to
expose the hoax and ultimately recanted her confession.
Betty Parris - Reverend Parris’s ten-year-old daughter. Betty falls into a strange stupor after
Parris catches her and the other girls dancing in the forest with Tituba. Her illness and that of
Ruth Putnam fuel the first rumors of witchcraft.
Martha Corey - Giles Corey’s third wife. Martha’s reading habits lead to her arrest and
conviction for witchcraft.
Ezekiel Cheever - A man from Salem who acts as clerk of the court during the witch trials.
He is upright and determined to do his duty for justice.
Judge Hathorne - A judge who presides, along with Danforth, over the witch trials.
Herrick - The marshal of Salem.
Mercy Lewis - One of the girls in Abigail’s group.
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The crucible